She said flatly，“Sam Van Arsdale，you can tell me，but don’t go telling anyone else.”Sam persuaded his wife to accompany them back to the woods，where Jimput on a flawless repeat performance.She shook her head in amazement—Sam’s crazy story was true！
Over the next few days，Sam couldn’t help telling his friends around town what his smart dog could do.They smiled at him indulgently and moved off pretty fast.
One man did listen，although of course he was skeptical.Sam，noticing that the man had parked his car on the street a few yards away，told Jim to show the man which car was his.Jim went straight to the car and put his front paw on it.
Then another man gave Sam the license plate number of his car.Sam wrote it down on a piece of paper and put the paper on the sidewalk.He told Jim to identify the car.Without hesitation，Jim walked to the car in question.
After incidents like these，Jim’s reputation spread like wildfire around the small town.Soon he was demonstrating his powers in the Ruff Hotel for amazed crowds of up to a hundred people at a time.There seemed to be no limit to what Jim could do.When people were in the lobby，he could determine what room numbers they occupied in the hotel，it could identify people according to the clothes they wore，the color of their hair—in spite of the fact that dogs are thought to be color-blind—their profession，and，in the case of the military，their rank.
Perhaps，the skeptics said，Sam was secretly signaling to Jim.Although none of Sam’s friends and associates questioned his integrity，knowing him to be a plainspeaking man who wouldn’t dream of deceiving others，one woman decided to test this theory.She had the clever idea to write an instruction for Jim in shorthand;which Sam did not understand.When Sam showed Jim the paper onwhich the instruction was written，and told him to do whatever it said，Jim went over to a certain man.The woman shouted，“He’s doing it！”Then she explained that the instruction was，“Show us the man with rolled socks.”
Jim’s reputation spread far beyond the small town of Marshall.Newspapers and magazines from all over the country sent reporters to cover the story.They went away，like everyone else，amazed.Jim became known as the Wonder Dog.
Jim’s feats aroused scientific and medical curiosity.He was examined by veterinarians at Missouri State University，who said that there was nothing unusual about Jim—physically，he was just like any other dog.They could offer no explanation for his uncanny talent.
One day，some friends persuaded Sam to test Jim further.Could he possibly predict the future Sam took an interest in the Kentucky Derby，so that year he wrote down the names of the horses on pieces of paper that he then laid on the floor.He asked Jim to select the horse that would win.Jim put his paw on one of the slips of paper，which was then put in a locked safe until after the race.It turned out that Jim had picked the winner.He repeated his success the following year，and so on for seven successive years.
Sam was not a gambling man and never attempted to profit from Jim’s abilities to foretell the future.He received many letters and telegrams requesting Jim’s predictions of winning horses.Some people offered to split the profits with Sam.But Sam never wavered.Nor was he interested in a lucrative offer from Paramount for Jim to work in movies for a year.Like the modest midwesterner he was，Sam said he didn’t really need the money and didn’t want to commercialize Jim.
As time passed，the bond between Sam and Jim grew.Sam’s love for Jim was that of a man for his greatest friend.And the dog’s ability to do anything Sam asked was just one facet of Jim’s deep devotion towards Sam.So when Jim died at the age of twelve in 1937，Sam was devastated.And indeed，the whole town of Marshall was stunned by the loss.Jim was buried in the Ridge Park Cemetery，where his small white headstone reads：Jim the Wonder Dog.
